American Go E-Journal » Go Spotting

“The Memory Palace of Mateo Ricci” includes a reference to a European coming across go in China, reports Jose Santiago. On page 157 of Jonathan D Spencer’s book (Penguin Books, 1984 ed.), is a section describing a memory method used by the Jesuits and previously by Greek and Roman scholars referred to as Memory Palaces:

“Hortensius recalled every price of every item sold at auction, while Chen Jian recalled each detail of his accounting books and the produce of his looms. Scaevola, riding back to his home in the country, could replay in his head every move of the pieces in the board game he had lost, while Wang Can could do the same with the game of Chinese checkers (weiqi) where he had been only a spectator.”

“I recall my friend Victor Chow 5p being able to recall five games he played simultaneously in Oxford,” Santiago adds. “I can do about 50 moves with difficulty!”

Being a collection of interesting items – in no particular order – that have landed in our in-box in recent months but never made it into the E-Journal.New adds to Kiseido’s year-end sale: Kiseido has added a few more items to their year-end sale of go books and go equipment, including the 2018 Ukiyo-e Calendar , shell & slate go stones, a new original ukiyo-e print and of course go books.

Stop, Go Murder: A story about murder, the game of go, and the role of happenstance in shaping our lives. Introduces Steven Crane, a homicide detective who has come to see his life, including his current case, as a deceiving game of go. A first novel — available on Amazon — from Paul Freeman, the former mayor of Laguna Beach, CA, who is available for book signings and other go club functions: call Ken Levine at (818) 414-6002. Bulk club discounts are available.

Being a collection of interesting items – in no particular order – that have landed in our in-box in recent months but never made it into the E-Journal.

New go mag launched:Myosu, a new Korea-based go publication, was quietly launched last June. Myosu is a Korean term meaning ‘excellent move’. The team is based out of Myongji University, headed up by Editor-in-chief Le Kieu Khanh Linh. “In this magazine, we want to share all kinds of stories from the Baduk world; not only news and playing techniques, but also insights into Baduk culture, people, etc. We hope that we can connect the Baduk world and bring our community closer.”

The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making: There is a passing mention of go on page 149 of The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making by Catherynne M. Valente. It occurs when the main character, September, is talking to Death.
“Death, I don’t know what to do.”
“It’s very brave of you to admit that. Most knightly folk I happen by bluster and force me to play chess with them. I don’t even like chess! For strategy Wrackglummer and even Go are much superior.”- Willard Haynes

Being a collection of interesting items – in no particular order – that have landed in our in-box in recent months but never made it into the E-Journal.

Legend of the Five Rings: Fantasy Flight Games publishes a card game called “Legend of the Five Rings” which takes inspiration from Japanese, Chinese, and Korean history and legend. A short story posted to FFG’s website contains an image of a gentleman engaged in an interesting game of go while holding a white stone correctly. The short story, itself, contains a discussion between two characters about Shogi, with a passing comment that one prefers the “purity” of go.- Joe Marino

Atari origins: “Started in 1972, Atari was named by one of its founders, Nolan Bushnell, for a move in the ancient Asian game of Go. ‘Atari was what you said to your opponent if you put their stones in jeopardy, kind of like check in chess,’ Mr. Bushnell explained in an interview. ‘I just thought it was a cool word and a cool name.’ From Atari (Remember It?), a New Console With Old Games, in The New York Times 11/24/2017
Bushnell gave the keynote address at the 2012 Go Congress.- Ted Terpstra

Can A.I. Be Taught to Explain Itself? As machine learning becomes more powerful, the field’s researchers increasingly find themselves unable to account for what their algorithms know — or how they know it.- From The New York Times, 11/21/2017

I have searched high and low for any mention of go at the Art Institute of Chicago, and I’ve finally found one (or two). Go is seen being played in two Chinese scrolls in the new exhibition “As the Story Unrolls.” It’s interesting to note that the board dimensions in these scenes appear to be 25×17. I’m curious if anyone knows if this was just the artist’s choice, or if this was actually the standard size of the time?

If you want to see the scrolls they are at the Art Institute of Chicago in Gallery 134, but time is running out. They are only on view through December 3, 2017.

Daniel Kahneman, author of the best-selling book “Thinking, Fast and Slow,” mentions go in a recent “On Being” interview. “On Being” is a Peabody Award-winning public radio show and podcast hosted by Krista Tippett. “At about 1:25:30, he is in the midst of talking about artificial intelligence when he mentions my favorite game — the ancient board game of go,” writes Howard Cornett in a blog post. “He talks about how he is fascinated by the fact that a computer program has finally beaten professional humans at a game that is based largely on System 1 thinking, or intuition.”

“Just saw this in Chinese media,” reports Zhiping You. “These are the first go-related sculpture I have ever seen.” At right are Gu Li (right) and Lee Sedol (left); in photo at left, Kong Jie (right) and Choe Cheoi-han (left). The sculpture is in China, Hunan Province, Fenghuang county. Every two years, beginning in 2003, this county hosts a fight between the top Chinese player and the top Korean player. So far, eight matches have taken place, Korea has won four, China has won three, and there was one tie, between Chang Hao and Lee Changho. “This year’s fight just finished on September 22,” Zhiping You says. “Ke Jie beat Park Junghwan.”

A Whisper of Caladan Seas is a part of the science fiction universe of Dune taking place some ten thousand years in the future, reports Terry Benson. The book includes a go-related quote from when the “good guys” are trapped in a cave. Quoting an excerpt from the book, “Squatting on the stone floor off to his left, two sullen soldiers had used their fingertips to trace a grid in the dust. With light and dark stones they played a make-shift game of go – a carryover from ancient Terra.” Benson notes that “(it’s) nice to imagine that our ancient game will still be played and on other worlds.”- Brian Kirby

“A simulated living-room showcase in the Pink Floyd exhibition at the V&A (Victoria and Albert Museum in London) features a cardboard box of ‘Go the ancient oriental game’,” reports Rich Philp on Gotalk. Andrew Simons chimes in to report that “Apparently Syd Barrett did play Go, don’t know about the rest of the band; plus by a quirk of fate Charles Matthews (3 dan, Go author/teacher of many Cambridge students, myself included) now lives in the house he was born in. ” Click here for Barrett’s entry in the BGA’s register of go-playing celebrities. The Pink Floyd exhibit is open through October 15.- Tony Collman